Appointments of non technical officials on K-Electric's key slots may cause a set back to the power utility in its endeavour to facilitate the citizens with uninterrupted electricity. "The non-technical officials in the K-Electric (formally known KESC) key posts are one of the reasons behind the persisting excessive load shedding in Karachi." sources said.
The generation department, transmission system and distribution network are being looked after and supervised by two non technical executive directors of the company who are not even got them registered in Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), adding that the registration in PEC is a mandatory for all engineers. Any engineer in Pakistan before joining any organisation or before taking any job whether in government or private sectors or before starting any project in civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical fields the person should get him registered in Pakistan Engineer Council (PEC), according to PEC Act 1976 and legal proceedings can be initiated against such persons who had violated the act, by the chairman PEC, sources claimed.
According to profiles of top officials of K-Electric, available with Business Recorder revealed that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nayyer Hussain held a degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University, USA. Similarly, Chief Strategic Officer-Generation and Transmission, Syed Arshad Masood Zahidi, who held a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Engineering and Technology in Pakistan, was looking after the distribution system of K-Electric, which requires highly technical expertise of supplying electricity to some 2.2 million consumes, including industrial and commercial organisations in the port city, they added.
Sources further said, "Since they are not qualified in the specific electrical field how could they control the large scale of complains of consumers about failure in the utility's system" G R Bhatti, the Advisor of Pakistan Engineering Council, (PEC) also confirmed that Nayyer Hussain and Syed Arshad Masood Zahidi of K-Electric have not got registered themselves in PEC. "The registration of PEC is a mandatory for all engineers who work in Pakistan," he added. On the other hand, the spokesman of K-Electric despite attempt was not available for comments.